MIR Report

[lostinms]

My Lesions are "juztacortical and Periventricular distribution"  I have no infratentorial lesions nor any on the Spinal Cord.

I have a slight drag on my left foot and numbing, from what I can find out, these areas should affect mostly verbal and memory, (and yep agree with that).

Am I just to new to all these terms  My simple question is can lesions in these areas affect you physically?

(also have some in left frontal lobe and Right frontal lobe adjacent to the occipital horn of left lateral ventricle)

[essdipity]

I am one who really doesn't look at my MRIs anymore, let alone try to map lesions and symptoms.

My brain near the ventricles is a mess of overlapping whatevers, so it's not possible to tell much from that. And for quite a few years I have had symptoms my neuro is sure come from the spinal cord, yet not one measly lesion there has ever been clearly identified.

MRIs are just a tool, a good one but far from perfect, so it's not wise to pin too much on them. For that matter, MS is a real tool too.  :-0

ess

[Quixotic1]

One can only occasionally look at a lesion and map it to a symptom.  The interconnected matrix of nerves in the CNS can create symptoms in areas that don't seem to have the function of the symptom.  

Try this article.

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/Lesions-vs-Symptoms/show/61?cid=36

Q

[lostinms]

And Thanks for the information.  It's hard to find the exact info you want on the internet.   I see the nuro on Wed.  thought I could have a little understanding of the MRI so I could ask some questions.

[lostinms]

I was dx in around 6 years ago but really just walked away from it.  last year I had optic neutitis for the second time and thought better revisit this.  MRI showed around 15 new lesions so just trying to understand my latest MRI report.

Will be starting Tecfidera soon, as time to slow or halt this thing if we can.  

[immisceo]

Asking if you'd been diagnosed should have been my first question! Sorry about the presumption you hadn't.

Some types of signs (objectively observable) can indeed be narrowed down to an area (internuclear opthalmoplegia = medial longitudinal fasciculus, optic neutitis = optic nerve), but other than that it becomes a little bit more of an art than a science and probably more of a frustration than informative.

I do understand the interest though. I'm the kind of person who enjoys looking at my MRI images, not necessarily to tie what I see to symptoms, but just out of fascination with the human body.

Even if you are diagnosed, perhaps it would be worth discussing with your doctor(s) anyway. They're the pros and can hopefully clear up what can and can't be gleaned from location.

By 'new to all this'  do you mean newly diagnosed? I know the period of my first year was really one of frantic research that likely was more stressful than helpful, but it's just natural to want to know every little thing about a new reality!

[lostinms]

No I have MS, just trying to understand it all.

I guess I'm trying to do the one thing that is not possible, map the lesions to a symptom.

[immisceo]

Lesion location can be actually pretty tricky to pin to specific symptoms. The brain isn't quite as well understood as that, not to mention that MRIs aren't perfect at imaging everything going on up there.

Are in the process of an MS diagnostic workup? Hopefully your neurologist will be able to go over all this with you in detail. 'Periventricular' is a typical area effected by MS, but these results will be taken in conjunction with your personal history, lab tests, and a thorough clinical exam to get a much clearer picture of what you may or may not be dealing with.

In the meantime, you may find our Health Pages of interest. http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=36